Grandma's Crochet Projects

Doily with crocheted "lace" and flowers

Recently, one of my daughters decided to take on a new hobby: crocheting. She learned a few stitches years ago when she was a little girl, but hasn't picked up a crochet hook in long time. Seeing her renewed interest in learning how to crochet brought back some wonderful childhood memories for me: I first learned how to crochet with my Aunt Jennie when I was still in elementary school, but much like my daughter, I didn't delve into making any projects until I was in my early 20s. It became a fun activity I enjoyed whenever my husband and I visited his grandmother in Canada. I tried to keep up with it, making blankets after each one of my children was born, but after awhile, other interests cropped up, and this hobby fell by the wayside.

Now that my daughter is looking for project ideas and supplies,      I started digging through my stash of yarn and crochet hooks, and found some beautiful things that "Grandma Cana" made over the years.

Here are some of her beautiful creations, made with love many decades ago:

Top Left: Not actually a crochet project, but you can tell by the color scheme that this braided trivet in groovy colors dates back to the early 1970s.

Top Right: Another trivet, but one that hides a unique item as its base. Can you guess common item she recycled to make the outside rings? Answer given at the end of this post.

Bottom Right: A beautiful double-sided pointsettia potholder. I made a few of these with her, and found my handwritten directions for this one, which I'll include in a future blog post.

Bottom Left: All hail this Crochet Classic: the toilet paper cozy! This one also has a small lace sachet of potpourri sewn to the top--pretty and practical!

ANSWER: The secret to those perfectly-shaped rings that form the stable base for the blue and white trivet are the plastic rings that hold a six-pack of soda cans together, cut up into individual circles and covered with crochet stitches.